Invisible Music
by PinkFreud
Summary: Time Machine 2002 movie He is a fascinating enigma...and she wants to know why he looks at the sky..and at her.
1. Chapter 1

Title: **Invisible Music**

Rating: **T**

Summary: (Time Machine; 2002 movie) He's a fascinating enigma, and she wants to understand him, and why he stares at the sky...and at her.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all. Nothing except the time machine now stored in my basement with the Morlocks who are squatting down there. And also, the cute inventor who came with it. Yes, it's all true, I swear. I'm a liar, ok, I admit it...don't sue.

Author's Note: I cannot believe I had never seen this movie until about a week ago...crazy, right? Anyway, I loved it with all my little heart, which is now beating too fast from an overabundance of caffeine. Here's this for anyone who's out there and reading...love you bunches and goodnight, drop me a line and say hi, don't be a stranger and don't go changin'. Flame me if you want, tell me if you liked it, I care not...Namaste and blessed be, ya'll.

This is for you Jess, wherever you are...and for St. Max and Ang: may the ground always rise to meet your feet, and all that jazz.

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Mara watched Alex as he stared at the sky. This was a curious habit he had; he would stare up into the black and infinite night as if it held all answers. His pretty eyes searched the heavens, and Mara's eyes searched him; she wondered as much about him as he did about the sky, it seemed.

He had come a long way; she did not even really understand what he meant when he spoke of traveling through time. All that she knew was that he was mysterious, new, exciting. She saw the machine he created, she saw it explode into a thousand fiery pieces. She did not truly understand all of the mechanics of it, but what she did know for certain was that the machine brought him to her. And it could have taken him away again, but now, it would not. He was going to stay. Here. With her.

Mara moved over to where Alex was sitting. She moved so softly that he did not hear her. She did not want to startle him, but she laid a hand very delicately on his shoulder. He jumped slightly, and turned to face her.

''I am sorry'', she said, smiling slightly. ''I did not mean to frighten you.''

''Oh, no'', Alex said, rising to his feet, ''You could not frighten me, Mara.'' He attempted to grin a little, but his face held so much sadness that the smile looked misplaced, and gave his handsome features an off-balance look.

Mara sat down, and motioned for Alex to join her. He did so, and they sat side by side, not touching at all, but still close. ''Where do you go, Alex, when you stare at the sky?'' She asked him, she herself casting her eyes briefly heavenward, before lowering them to gaze at Alex.

''What do you mean?'' he asked her, becoming slightly hypnotised by her beautiful deep brown eyes.

''I mean'', she said, shifting her body slightly so that her leg brushed against his, ''I see you...I see you look up at the sky, and your body is here'', she put a hand on his arm, ''but your mind and your spirit'', she laid her other hand to rest on Alex's forehead, ''are somewhere out in the sky. Where do you go?''

His skin grew warm beneath her hands and Alex shook slightly. He didn't know why. He was hot and cold, full of fever and chills, night and day, past and future. He was full of confusion, yet somehow at peace, he was adrift in sea, yet he was anchored. It was a fuzzy, dizzy feeling. It was like the spaces between; before, when he was back in the time he had come from. There were moments, when he was working on a mathematical equation, and everything around him would fall to a sparkling lull. There would be colors and muted sounds flashing by out of the corner of his eyes, somehow rushing past him, away from him. And then there was just...clarity, like clear, pure, bright light switching on and flooding his senses, illuminating all the dusty, dark corners of his addled mind, and then he could _see._ He could see the answer to his question, his problem...and he was certain that if he could push a little further into the light, he could find the answers to all problems, mathematical and otherwise; solve all equations, answer all riddles.

He spoke; ''Mara, has there ever been a moment for you, when everything was somehow altered, and yet it stayed the same? As if a door inside your mind was somehow opened, and beautiful light flooded in, and things were changed...everything was sharper and clearer somehow? And you were inside your body but somehow also very far away, flying out and up past the stars. Outside of space and time, but still held within them?''

''I...do not know.'' She confessed honestly. ''It sounds lovely. I do not know if I have ever felt that way...perhaps once.''

''Really?'' Alex was interested. ''Tell me. When?''

''I was swimming, actually'', Mara said, her face holding a dreamy sort of smile as she recalled what had happened long ago. ''I was floating in the water, on my back, looking up at the sky, like you do. And I remember that I wasn't really thinking about anything in particular, I was just floating. I became a part of the water, almost. My body was liquid, it moved and drifted. I became one with the waves as they rocked me. And I was falling through air and sky and drifting...just drifting. And there was no such thing as time, there was not even such a thing as me, I was just...everything. I wished I could stay that way forever.'' Mara stopped talking, then, and looked at Alex.

He was staring back at her, and his eyes were looking upon her in a way that she had never seen before. She did not have a name for it; it was a kind of beautiful, sad, lovely look that struck her with arrows of sweet warmth. It was as if she was falling into an enveloping net of starlight and safety. That was how he looked at her, and it was the greatest look. She wanted him to look at her that way forever, for hundreds of days to come, as long as she lived, Mara wanted him to look at her this way.

She moved towards him slightly, as if prompted by an unseen current. Her arms went round him, and she pulled his body close against hers. He did not pull away at all, he simply fell against her and rested, because he was tired and confused, and full of strange feelings. Alex had been walking out in the heat all day, and his skin was slightly burned, tinged pink along his face and neck. He smelled like the outdoors, like grass and flowers and earth and other wild things. Alex leaned against Mara, whose arms were holding him with an astounding gentleness that bordered on reverance.

He breathed her in; she smelled sweet and wonderful. She _felt_ sweet and wonderful. Alex felt a stab of sadness through his soul as he thought of Emma. Instinctively, as if Mara knew what he was thinking, she held him more tightly, knowing he needed that. Her hands rose to touch his face, fingers tracing over his features, resting briefly in all the right places. He was soothed into a near sleep as he lay against her, listening to her heart beat in a steady rythmn, feeling the blood rush and dance through her veins. It was a gorgeous lullabye, a sound of life.

The sky was darkening even more deeply, more completely, and the broken moon was hanging suspended overhead, its shattered pieces glowing and shining down their light like a caress, like a kiss. Mara was half talking-half singing, in her native language, whispering words of love that Alex could not understand, and she felt it was better that he did not understand them.

It was a deep and fascinating confusion; she felt so at home with him here in her arms, and yet so afraid. Afraid of what, she did not know. The fear, though, did nothing to halt the swiftly growing feelings that were so much more powerful.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: **Invisible Music**

Rating: **T**

**Chapter 2**

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The next morning dawned with bright warmth, the heat already becoming evident in the early hours. Alex was sleeping peacefully, dreaming of nothing, but welcoming the sensation of deep and restful all-consuming blackness. The light was shining in through the open window, resting on his skin and bathing him in a sea of lovely golden color. Mara was outside with Kalen. She was telling him a story she had invented in her mind, some fairy tale that seemed sweet and nice when she dreamed it up last night.

Kalen sat at her feet, his soft dark hair falling around his little face like a cloud. ''Mara, what happens at the end of the story?'' he asked, twirling a piece of grass between his fingers. ''Please tell me.'' His liquid brown eyes gazed up at her imploringly, and Mara laughed lightly and touseled Kalen's hair. ''I cannot tell you the end of the story yet, because not even I know how it ends. We'll save that for another day. Now, you need to eat.'' She straightened up and walked back inside, with Kalen following along behind.

Alex stirred awake, light was tickling at his eyelids, begging them to open. He mumbled something and turned over. He turned over so much though, that he tumbled right out of bed and hit the floor with a dull _thud_ which immediately jolted him completely awake. He heard soft musical laughter and then felt four hands pulling him to his feet.

His blurry eyes focused on the forms of Mara and Kalen; Kalen laughing a child's happy laugh, and Mara smiling softly with lovely, dancing eyes. Kalen ran across the room to look for something to eat, leaving Mara and Alex standing together. She raised a hand to his head, fingertips grazing his forehead.

''Did you hit your head, my silly, lost village idiot?'' Mara asked Alex teasingly, and a smile formed around the corners of his mouth. He placed his hand over hers. ''It doesn't hurt,'' he said, and then looked into Mara's eyes again. He realized that he did this sometimes, but there was something about her eyes, about her soft, beautiful face, that soothed him. His restless, agitated mind slowed; the wheels in his brain that were always spinning in constant, whirring motion seemed to cease, and he was moving more easily, more calmly. He was warm, there was a kind of peace. At last.

She felt somewhat the same, however it was a more exhilerating feeling. Like flying through the air, and then landing. He broke the strange trance they seemed to share by asking her suddenly, ''did you ever dance?''

''Did I ever...what?'' Mara asked, still caught up in the starlight spiderweb of Alex's gaze. ''Dance'', he responded, putting an arm on her waist and moving her closer to him.

''Move around to music.'' He drew her even closer, and she placed her arm around him. He spun her in a circle, twirled her around. Her long, dark hair flew behind her like a curtain in the breeze; strands fell across his skin and tickled him.

''There isn't any music here, Alex''. Mara was smiling, her face full of sunshine and laughter.

''Ah,'' he said, ''you're right. Silly me''. He was still spinning her, whirling her around. Her fingers clasped his arm, and electric warmth sang between them like a hum. Mara fell against him, their bodies touching in a kind of sublime meeting; still spinning to invisible music. _''Maybe he's mad'', _she thought to herself, _''out of his mind_''. And it occurred to her that this did not matter, even the slightest bit. He came through time, traveling so far only to be delivered into a future he created, into waiting arms that would not have been there to receive him had he never dared to change the past for the sake of love. He was good and brave; even if he was odd and spoke of things that Mara could never and would never see, he could tell her all about them. It was like holding eternity in her small arms when she held this man who was brilliant and beautiful, wise and sad and sweet.

''I'm so glad you stayed'', she whispered against him, not even realizing that she had spoken, but still Alex heard her words and his heart beat faster and he held her more tightly and that was the answer. The answer to a question that she had not even asked. Her face tilted up, and his tilted downwards and lips met lips in a strange and awkward kind of meeting that was also tender and delicate. She had never kissed anyone before, actually, but she liked to think about it sometimes. She thought about it the first time she saw him, when she took care of him. When he first entered her life and her heart and her dreams. And so she pressed her lips against his like she imagined doing.

She ran her hands along his body, as if she were completely mesmerized by him; his arms circled her waist, pressing her to him, so that they could feel each other's hearts pounding wildly. Lips met over and over again, until all their surroundings were evaporating. This strange dizzy adrenaline rush was like electricity; they were chemistry, they were physics, they were mathematics, they were everything, hurtling through space at an astounding glorious speed so swift that it felt like they were standing completely still. Breaking apart with a kind of _snap_, like the crack of an electric shock, like a spark, they simply stared for a moment.

Stared as if neither had before encountered anything quite like the other, they observed each other with blood pounding through their veins and rushing through their heads, with lips that were bruised and reddened from kissing and still humming. With tiny pinpricks dancing along skin and a kind of halo surrounding them, they stared. And Mara was whispering words, some in his language, and some in hers, and some a blur between the two, but they sounded beautiful, like raindrops on water.

Kalen had left, he had abandoned them to privacy, to each other, and the room was quiet and still except for the sound of their breathing and Mara whispering.


End file.
